Fluor Federal Services Company Loses Again in Court as Judge Turns Away Motions to Vacate Verdict,Judge Awards $1.4 Million in Attorney Fees

Kennewick, WA – A Superior Court judge turned away an appeal by a Hanford contractor who sought to vacate the verdict in the trial of 11 Hanford pipefitter whistleblowers who were awarded nearly $5 million in damages last September by a jury.

Today, the Government Accountability Project denounces David Dreier’s (R-CA) Rules Committee for twice denying the House of Representatives the opportunity to vote on protections for national security whistleblowers. The Rules Committee rejected whistleblower rights amendments submitted by Tom Davis (R-VA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) for Wednesday’s consideration of the intelligence authorization bill. A similar amendment will not receive an up or down vote during debate today on lobbying reform.

Today, the Government Accountability Project proclaims that the CIA’s public efforts to crackdown on leaks of classified information demonstrate the need for Congress to approve meaningful whistleblower protections for employees who decide to disclose classified evidence of government wrongdoing, misconduct and illegality.

GAP calls on Congressional leadership to allow up or down votes on two legislative proposals that would authorize whistleblowers with “direct and specific” evidence of classified government misconduct to disclose that information to Congress.

Federal air marshal and Government Accountability Project (GAP) client Frank Terreri filed a formal legal petition with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for investigation of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) earlier today. In his 13-page appeal, Terreri alleges gross mismanagement, abuse of authority, violations of law, and a substantial threat to air safety, created by repeated disclosures of operational tactics and FAMS policies that compromise the identity of individual air marshals.

GAP Hails Historic Vote by House Government Reform Committee to Extend Protections to National Security Whistleblowers

Washington, D.C. – The House Government Reform Committee continued its efforts to enhance protections for government whistleblowers by approving a bipartisan proposal that, for the first time, would extend genuine protections to national security whistleblowers if enacted into law.

On Thursday, March 30, 2006, in response to public outcry over NASA’s suppression of climate science research which is inconsistent with the Bush administration’s political agenda, NASA unveiled a new media policy that it is touting as a free-speech breakthrough for agency scientists. The policy, however, falls far short of promises made by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin’s about scientific freedom of employee speech, specifically that the agency desires a “culture of openness.”

The Government Accountability Project is hailing an 84-13 vote by the Senate this past Tuesday, March 28, which approved an amendment to S. 2349, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, that will require senators to publicly acknowledge their efforts to block normal proceedings on legislation.